U.S. President George W. Bush reaffirmed diplomacy is the best way for solving the nuclear issue of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), at a joint press conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Camp David, Maryland on Friday.

Diplomacy is the best way to solve difficult issues such as the DPRK nuclear issue, Bush said.

Bush also reaffirmed his stance of trying to solve the DPRK nuclear issue through the six-party talks, which involve the United States, the DPRK, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.

However, Bush urged the DPRK to live up to its commitments under the Feb. 13 agreement, in which the DPRK pledges to shut down its nuclear reactor. "Our partners in the six-party talks are patient, but our patience is not unlimited," Bush said.

Because of the lingering financial disputes between the United States and the DPRK, a deadline to shut down the DPRK's nuclear reactor has been missed.

For his part, Abe said the current state of six-party talks is "regrettable."

"We agree that the current state of the six-party talks, as well as North Korea's attitude towards the adduction issue, are regrettable and we will work for closer coordination between our two countries to achieve progress," Abe said.

On the issue of the so-called "comfort women," Abe said during his meeting with Congress representatives on Thursday, he expressed his apologies to "the people who had to serve as comfort women" and he explained his thoughts to Bush.

Bush said he accepts Abe's apology. "The comfort women issue was a regrettable chapter in the history of the world and I accept the prime minister's apology," he said.

U.S. officials have publicly rebuked Abe for denying that the Japanese military had coerced women into sex slavery during World War II.

Abe, who sparked anger and controversy last month by claiming there was no evidence the Japanese army directly coerced "comfort women" to become sex slaves during World War II, has since offered his apology over then Japanese government and army's involvement in the forced recruitment of women from other Asian countries to provide sex to Japanese servicemen during the war.

An estimated 200,000 women were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japanese forces during World War II, most of whom came from countries invaded by Japan at that time.